Introducing ethnic foods to your LO

chocolatechip06 · July 2010

We have a way to go obviously, but if you have an ethnic background or just enjoy spicer foods etc. when did you start to introduce them to LO.

We will probably wait till about 6 months to introduce solids, but at what point can they tolerate a little spice etc. Obviously we will be making very mild versions of any dish we initially try out.

I have lots of friend's kids etc. who love sushi and other ethnic foods and I hope that LO is the same way.

skoorbnibor · July 2010

Ethan loves all sort of food, from sushi to thai, from indian to hibachi

We started with giving him a lower spice version at about 11 months or so, By 18 months he was ordering his own pad thai at our local thai restaurant. They always ask me if they should make it less spicy (their version has a LOT of heat) and we say no, and he LOVES it.

With Indian, he will drink a ton of water, but he loves it.

We did it gradually, to see what he could tolerate and also see what he liked. On our recent cruise, they were so impressed, as he never ordered from the kids menu, only from the adult menu.

GypsyEsq · July 2010

With very few exceptions DD has eaten what we eat since 6 months. That includes things like jambalaya, curry, Thai food, sushi, other Japanese food and Mexican, Tex-Mex and New Mexican foods. I always taste it first and determine whether it's indeed too hot for her, a couple of times she has decided she didn't like the spice profile but by and large she's an adventurous eater. I think it helps for me to keep in mind that through breastmilk she gets the flavor profiles of everything I'm eating anyway -- in comparison most "baby food" is very bland.

RoxBride · July 2010

There was an interesting article recently in Parents (I think) about introducing all kinds of spices and food types to them before age 1. That's pretty much what we did.

She was on all table food by 8 months, and at that point ate spicy things, ethnic things.

Now she's 19 months and loves all kinds of crazy stuff - spicy gazpacho, peppers, sushi.

hannah&ben · July 2010

We started when we started table food. He did purees from 6 months and started the transition to table foods around 8 months.. at that time I added some extra flavor to his purees too... cinnamon in his sweet potatoes, cumin to his lentils, etc. Never salt or sugar but definitely spices. He loved loved that!

Henry eats what we eat. Now, we don't eat anything blow your head off spicy but we do like quite a bit of heat and I cook with a variety of flavors and spices.. like others we regularly eat indian and thai and I always share mine with Henry. He loves it. I let him try whatever he wants to try. Sometimes when something is pretty spicy he'll open his mouth wide and say "aaahhhhhhhh" and make funny faces but he always goes back for more.

Just play it by ear... whatever feels comfortable and baby will let you know what they like. The bottom line, there's no reason not to feed little one what you eat.

hannah

Christakim · July 2010

We may be the exception, but we JUST started introducing spicy food a couple of months ago, I was kind of concerned she wouldn't be able to tolerate it well, but pedi suggested till at least 12 months.

SeaSoul · July 2010

hannah&ben:

We started when we started table food. He did purees from 6 months and started the transition to table foods around 8 months.. at that time I added some extra flavor to his purees too... cinnamon in his sweet potatoes, cumin to his lentils, etc.

This sounds like what we did. I think by keeping foods bland you can really affect a child's taste (or lack thereof) for more flavorful foods. And let's face it, flavor is what makes healthful eating TASTY! So, I am all about herbs, spices, and heat. And so is Cal!!

crystalgirl · July 2010

Well, we have one of those kids who used to eat everything and now turns his nose up at a lot of it. We even gave him ethnic purees (can't remember the brand, but it was a local brand sold at Whole Foods). He happily ate absolutely everything we ate and then one day turned on a dime. Really, eh started rejecting certain textures, and it went from there. Now he's pretty darn picky, unfortunately.

BUT, he still likes salsa and Thai noodles as spicy as I eat them (3 on a 1 to 5 scale).

elliek05 · July 2010

DD had her first taste of bhuna-cooked lamb at 7 months. We do a lot of Asian cooking (Indian, Pakistani, Bangaladeshi, etc-- I always forget that not everyone calls thar Asian). Anyhow, DD loves it all. We just offered her a little bit of lamb or chicken with her plain rice and veg and let her get on with it. I think little ones really like strong tastes (and even bitter tastes) for a while-- that's why babies love sucking pickles.

We didn't offer her anything solid until 6 months, though, and started with mostly fruit and veggie and plain breads.

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